Southwest Finland

Southwest Finland is a province of Finland located on the coast and islands of the Archipelago Sea. The province consists of the regions of Loimaa, Salo, Turku, Vakka-Suomi and Turunmaa. The neighboring regions are Åland to the southwest, Kanta-Häme and Pirkanmaa to the northeast, Satakunta to the north and Uusimaa to the east. The current area of ​​the province is slightly larger than the historical province of Southwest Finland, as it also includes the Loimaa region, which is part of Satakunta, and Somero, which is part of the historical province of Häme. The area of ​​Southwest Finland on 1 January 2021 was 20,537.55 km², of which 10,666.06 km² is land, 246.16 km² is inland waters and 9,625.33 km² is sea. The population of the region on 31 December 2024 was 494,781 people, making it the third most populous region in Finland after Uusimaa and Pirkanmaa. The region's share of the national population is approximately 8.7 percent. 5.7 percent of the residents were Swedish-speaking and 3.9 percent were foreign-speaking. Southwest Finland has the second highest population density in Finland after Uusimaa. The region's capital and largest city in terms of population is Turku.